Arch Coal recognized for excellence in predictive maintenance

Arch Coal Inc. on September 22 announced that its predictive maintenance program has been named as the best overall program among mobile equipment fleets from around the world by an industrial trade magazine.

"Earning the best predictive maintenance award is an important achievement for Arch Coal's national network of mines," said John W. Eaves, Arch's president and chief operating officer. "The mining environment is very dynamic, which makes the maintenance of equipment an intense and challenging effort. That's why our mining personnel value the recognition for their best-in-class practices that include managing risk and reducing exposure through planned, preventative and predictive maintenance."

Arch Coal's predictive maintenance program employs certified maintenance engineers at each mining complex and standardized processes to provide comprehensive oil and vibration analysis, ultrasonic flaw detection, thermography and motor circuit analysis. This technology is used for quality standards and acceptance testing at component and rebuild facilities certified by Arch. According to Arch's director of technical and maintenance services, Bob McCreary, Arch has reduced controllable maintenance costs by 5 percent annually over the last four years by integrating a comprehensive predictive maintenance program throughout its national network of mines.

St. Louis-based Arch Coal, Inc. is the nation's second-largest coal producer. The company's core business is providing U.S. power generators with clean-burning, low-sulfur coal for electric generation. The company also ships coal to domestic and international steel manufacturers as well as international power producers. Through its national network of mines and 4,600-person workforce, Arch supplies the fuel for approximately 8 percent of the electricity generated in the United States.